Category Archives: Bb Maintenance

Summer Semester 2015 will be here shortly! Here are some Blackboard things that are helpful to know as you prepare for the start of the semester. You probably have a long list of things to do, so this whether you teach face to face, distance, or both, this info will help.

Scenario: You are ready to make your course available to students. Solution: Login to Blackboard. Go to your Summer course(s):

Course Availability

Go to the Control Panel. Next, click Customization > Properties > Set Availability. Under Duration, please leave Continuous checked; do not choose the date selection option. Courses are not made available automatically – each instructor decides when to turn the course on for the semester. ALSO, please make your Spring 2015 sites unavailable (same instructions).

Course Copy

Scenario: You want your Summer 2014 course content copied into your Summer 2015 course. Solution: Course Copy tool. You can do this yourself with the instructions in this Course Copy PDF. Cautions and important notes: Only do the course copy ONCE. Do not assume “it didn’t take” and repeat the process because it will result in duplicate or triplicate content. During peak times (pre-semester), it may take a little longer than you anticipate because many instructors are doing the same thing. IMPORTANT:Your destination course (SUMMER) will end in 201540, 201550, OR 201560, depending on the session. So, Summer 1 = 201540, Summer 11-week = 201550, Summer 2 = 201560. Please double-check those semester/session codes, to make sure you are copying to the correct semester. NOTES: 1) Do not course copy multiple times for “pieces” or “selections” of the source course. 2) Do not course copy if you want to import one or two or a few exams. Instead, use the export/import feature under Tests, Surveys, Pools. You’ll find instructions on importing/exporting tests on the Faculty Support or DE Faculty Support pages.

Scenario: You teach more than one section and use the exact content for each section and would like to avoid building duplicate courses. Solution: Section Merge. You can do this yourself with the instructions in this Section Merge PDF. You’ll find the Section Merge tab at the top of your Blackboard page once logged in (please see the screenshot below). Caution: Make sure you merge your sections ending in 201540, 201550, OR 201560, depending on the session/semester. You will be merging sections from the same session/semester. If you make a mistake, do NOT click Remove; choose Modify. Or contact the Bb Support Team.

Section Merge

Scenario: You use Tegrity for lecture capture, or want to use Tegrity, in your Blackboard course. Or you have Mediasite videos in your Bb course. Solution: Before you do a course copy or request a course copy, contact Allen Dennis or Percevial Murphy. Or visit ECU’s Tegrity Blog and/or Mediasite Blog.

Scenario: You are tired of seeing so many courses in your course list. Solution: Hide the courses you do not want to see. You can do this yourself with the instructions in this PDF document, How to Hide Past Courses.

Scenario: You would like to start using, or consider using, LockDown Browser to give online exams in a secure environment in order to deter academic dishonesty in online exams. Solution: Click the Blackboard Support tab at the top of your screen once logged into Blackboard. You’ll find a link for info, plus the URL to provide to students.

Blackboard will be unavailable between 9:00am and 11:00am on Sunday morning during our normal maintenance window.

Downtime: Citrix

When: Sunday, August 17 / 6:00am-12:00pm

Citrix will experience a brief interruption in service between 6:00am and 12:00 noon Sunday during our normal maintenance window.

To check the authenticity of this e-mail:
Visit www.ecu.edu, and click on the “Help Desk” link under the “MyLinks” section on the right-hand side. This will take you to the ECU IT Help Desk page where you can review our “Announcements” section.

Need Help?

If you experience any difficulties in relation to this announcement or have any questions, please contact the ECU IT Help Desk by phone at 252-328-9866 or via the Web at www.help.ecu.edu.

Please keep in mind that regular maintenance on all computing systems is performed on Sundays between the hours of 5:00 am – 12:00 pm. If there are other times that systems will be down, notification will be sent through ITCS Notifications.

Illegally downloading music, movies, and other copyrighted material via file-sharing programs can cost you your network access. You may even be subject to civil and criminal penalties. Anyone found liable for civil copyright infringement may be ordered to pay either actual damages or “statutory” damages affixed at not less than $750 and not more than $30,000 per work infringed. For “willful” infringement, a court may award up to $150,000 per work infringed. Willful copyright infringement can also result in criminal penalties, including imprisonment of up to five years and fines of up to $250,000 per offense.

University employees who violate university computer-use policies will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. Student violations are misconduct under the applicable student disciplinary code. Sanctions may include revocation of access privileges in addition to other sanctions available under the regular disciplinary procedures. Visit www.ecu.edu/itcs/itsecurity/filesharing.cfm for more information.

You have been redirected to this page because ECU’s Blackboard system is currently down for a minor feature refresh upgrade. The planned downtime window is from 5/12 – 5/16. During this downtime anyone who attempts to access https://blackboard.ecu.edu will be re directed to this blog post. That is why you are here.

During this planned downtime, we will be upgrading the Bb platform and then testing all Bb tools and building blocks to ensure that they are working as expected.

To learn about the new features that you will see after the upgrade is complete please visit this blog post.

If you have any questions at all regarding the downtime feel free to email longm@ecu.edu . If you have any general Bb questions or other questions I would encourage you to enter a helpdesk ticket at https://ecu.edu/9866

Summary Information

We understand that upgrades are stressful. We will do our absolute best to have Bb running as quickly as possible once the upgrade is complete.

If you would like to discuss the upgrade or ask questions you can do by enrolling in the Yammer Blackboard 9 public group space. You can ask questions and add comments regarding the upgrade there.

Blackboard downtime for this upgrade will start on 5/12 around 8am. Bb could be down thru 5/16.

Hello ECU Faculty, Staff and Students – [Blackboard is back up as of 5/13/2013, 4 pm]

You have been redirected to this page because ECU’s Blackboard system is currently down for a small upgrade. The planned downtime window is from 5/11/13 (12:30pm) through 5/13/13 (5pm). During this downtime anyone who attempts to access https://blackboard.ecu.edu will be re directed to this blog post.

The upgrade will be a minor one for faculty and students. To learn about the new features that you will see after the upgrade is complete please visit this blog post.

If you have any questions at all regarding the downtime feel free to email longm@ecu.edu . If you have any general Bb questions or other questions I would encourage you to enter a helpdesk ticket at https://ecu.edu/9866

The following systems will be unavailable on Wednesday morning from 6:00am till 6:15am while we perform necessary maintenance:

-Blackboard
-Piratedrive
-Medical Images through Centricity

To check the authenticity of this e-mail:

Visit www.ecu.edu, and click on the “Help Desk” link under the “MyLinks” section on the right-hand side. This will take you to the ECU IT Help Desk page where you can review our “Announcements” section.

Need Help?
If you experience any difficulties in relation to this announcement or have any questions, please contact the ECU IT Help Desk by phone at 252-328-9866 or via the Web at www.help.ecu.edu.

Computing Systems Maintenance Schedule
Please keep in mind that regular maintenance on all computing systems is performed on Sundays between the hours of 5:00 am – 12:00 pm. If there are other times that systems will be down, notification will be sent through ITCS Notifications.

Illegally downloading music, movies, and other copyrighted material via file-sharing programs can cost you your network access. You may even be subject to civil and criminal penalties. Anyone found liable for civil copyright infringement may be ordered to pay either actual damages or “statutory” damages affixed at not less than $750 and not more than $30,000 per work infringed. For “willful” infringement, a court may award up to $150,000 per work infringed. Willful copyright infringement can also result in criminal penalties, including imprisonment of up to five years and fines of up to $250,000 per offense.

University employees who violate university computer-use policies will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. Student violations are misconduct under the applicable student disciplinary code. Sanctions may include revocation of access privileges in addition to other sanctions available under the regular disciplinary procedures. Visit www.ecu.edu/itcs/itsecurity/filesharing.cfm for more information.

From 8:00 am – 9:00am on Sunday, September 16, users will experience intermittent access to Piratedrive (includes home directories and departmental folders), Blackboard, and medical images through Centricity.